Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at Carm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers, taking your calls, and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hey, everybody, welcome to the show. It is me, Matt Slick. S-L-I-C-K, and uh. As usual, the match look live.

So, if you want to give me a call, all I have to do is dial 877-2072276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call. Today's date is: let's see, April 8th, 2026.

Now for those who might be tuning in new, every I don't know, every now and then I'll do that if I feel like I remind myself of what this show is. In case you're a new listener, you're kind of curious. Matt Slick Live. Slick is my real my real last name. And so it works perfectly for radio, Matt Slick, and Reverend Slick, you could say.

And when I say it to people, I go, Man, that's right, Reverend, Reverend Slick. And I always say, this doesn't sound good. But that's what it is. And so, if you want to listen to the show, what's the show about? It's about apologetics, it's about Bible answers, it's about telling the biblical truth before people, whether they like it or not, trying to get people to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the gospel of Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses or Islam, the false gospel there, and/or Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.

All of those are false. And no, I wasn't injured by any one of those, and I've got a bone to pick with them or anything. No, it's just a theological thing, and I've been studying for 46 years. On biblical theology and doing countless impromptu discussions/slash debates, as well as formal debates, writing books, doing radio.

Okay, enough about me.

So if you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-207. Two two seven six You can also, if you are so inclined, you can send an email to info at carm.org, info at carm.org. and put the subject line radio comment or radio question. It's all you got to do. It is easy.

We get to them.

Now, this Friday, however, I won't be live on the air because Saturday I'm doing a wedding. I'm officiating at a wedding. And we had to do a rehearsal on the day before, so that's Friday at this time.

So I won't be doing that. Let's get to Catherine from North Carolina. Catherine, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, nice to talk to you again.

Sure, sure, no problem.

So, what do you got? Uh I just have a question. Um, if I'm cremated Well, I still be able to My body be able to rise when that time comes. Yes.

Okay. That's not a problem. God, who created the universe, who knows the location of every atom, is certainly capable of reconstituting your body, however, it works. at the resurrection. In fact, my wife, who passed away four and a half months ago, we had her cremated.

And I know that I will be joining her in the resurrection. Because our Lord Jesus is the first fruits and we're gonna see each other again. And you, if you are cremated, if anybody's cremated, God will simply redo, resurrect. How it's gonna work, we don't know. our bodies.

Now you gotta understand something. What makes you you is not your physical body. Let me make a point of logic here.

So, if someone is in a car accident and they cut off his arms and his legs, is he still the same person? Of course, he is. And if he has, if he goes blind, is he still the same person? Of course he is, because personhood is not designated and defined by a physical body.

So Jesus says he's going to prepare a place for you.

Now, in the wedding feast, when the bride would go get the groom, before he could do that, he had to build a new room onto his father's house, and then with his right trumpet, they would go get the bride, have the wedding feast, take her into that room. And so he says, in my father's house are many mansions. And so he's talking about this issue of building new rooms, resurrected bodies.

So it's a new body that we're going to have, and God can either reconstitute the one that we were in, Or, I don't know, you know, with time differential, and he goes back into when we were 30 years old, and here you go. I don't know how it works. But The body isn't what makes us us, it's our personhood, our nature, our essence made in his image. And it's to be housed in our bodies, and we will. We will have a resurrected form.

And one last point is in 1 Corinthians 15:35 through 45, it says, That which is sown in the ground is that which is raised.

So, our bodies, our physical bodies that were sown in the ground, will be the bodies that are raised. And at that point, I can't tell you how that works. I just know that's what it says.

Okay. Okay. Thank you so much, and my condolences, Matt. Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Appreciate it. All right. And I'll talk to you soon.

Alright.

Well, God bless. You know, that's a hope that we have as Christians, the hope of the resurrection. That when we lose a loved one, a wife, a spouse, a child, a father, a sibling, friend. Who are believers, we have that hope and that expectation that we will see them again.

Now to be absent for the body is to be home with the Lord for 2 Corinthians 5.8.

So we can exist apart from our physical bodies. in with the Lord. And 2 Corinthians 12, 2 through 4. Paul says, I know a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, but such a man was caught up to the third heaven, and he heard and saw inexpressible things.

So the point there is that That which makes you you can separate from your body, and exist along with the Lord. But there's something about the necessity of us being raised in a physical body. And I don't know why that is. Because part of me, I'm thinking about it like, well, wait a minute. If we could be in a spiritual kind of form and go to the other side of the galaxy at a moment's thought, that'd be cool.

But what do I know? We're going to be raised in the same body, just as Jesus was. and our bodies will be glorified. And we won't have to I'm assuming we don't have to eat Jesus ate, but he didn't have to eat any functioning blood in his body. He still had the resurrection wounds to his side, his hands.

So there's a lot of speculation, and I could just offer ideas and theories and things like that. But long story short, we're going to have our new bodies in heaven. I'm looking forward to it. My wife, in particular, who passed away from a very, very debilitating physical illness with lots of pain and scoliosis and arthritis and osteoporosis.

Well, when she gets her new body, It's going to be wonderful. It's going to be wonderful. And I'm looking forward to seeing her at that state and rejoicing with her in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished and what He has done and what He will do. Our hope will. Ladies and gentlemen, is not in our circumstances, our bank accounts, our cars.

our spouses Our friends, our family, our work. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who died on the cross. He's the one who rose from the dead physically. He's the first fruits, and we're going to follow in like manner.

Praise Jesus. Let's get to Jermaine from California, the People's Republic of California. Welcome, brother. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, I um Yeah, so this will be like a two-parter over the week, we're willing.

But I wanted to ask you about.

So President Trump is surrounded by some people I might consider a little shady spiritually. And is it good for him to get counsel from Apollo White, or some of these other folks who are really they don't all seem to be on the same level theologically. And I know they wouldn't qualify. To teach in a lot of places, but I'm very disturbed by some of the behavior I'm seeing, but like comparing. the president of Jesus Christ and then You know, you're at these these uh meetings begging for money for prayer.

It's just very It just puts me off, but is it good for him to be getting, quote, spiritual advice from the likes of those people? No, they shouldn't. It shouldn't. Paula White is a pastor, and the Bible says women are not to be pastors and elders, so she right away is violating God's Word. And she doesn't know enough about God's Word to recognize that she shouldn't be in that position.

And so that's one. And also she's taught the prosperity gospel. Which is a false teaching as well, that God wants you healthy and wealthy and things like that. That's how He wants. And there's an excess of charismatic stuff.

I'm not having a problem with the charismatic gifts, but they need to be. Yeah. Exhibited properly with the decorum according to the biblical revelations found in Corinthians. And so There's some other issues and it's really sad that uh that Political figures, when they adopt spiritual leaders, often don't adopt good spiritual leaders. They adopt the popular ones, like Paula White and others who basically don't know theology from a rat's hole in the ground.

Okay. Okay, yeah, that was very descriptive. But I think the issue I have is. It seems like a lot of these people have really made compromises to achieve certain positions politically as far as. As far as um you know it I guess I want to get into the whole separation of church and state, but it seems like they're.

Leveraging their position to get what they want out of things. And I, um Yeah, and you're right. I I don't know. What is the angle, but just something doesn't seal right. And if these people are influencing policy, I think that's a problem because they're all seemingly on the same dispensational track to to uh get what they like.

Or see, get them how they like how they view scripture. Yeah, I think that's the fault. That's the fault of the American people, of the American Christians, who aren't studying their Word of God seriously enough to recognize those problems and those errors. They're being. uh being fed pablum.

uh milk pre-milk By so many people. Yep. I'm with you. That's right.

Okay, well, yeah, I guess that was a quick one. I bet you would last about five minutes at the White House before you're escorted out. That's just my personal opinion. Man, you are gracious. Wow Five minutes?

Man, I was thinking like ninety seconds. You know, but that's okay. But you never know. I've heard Trump is a real Christian. I used to know a guy, he's passed away since, but he knew Trump.

And not personally as in a you know, buddy buddies, but he had several encounters with him and was impressed by his compassion. His he apparently said he was a Christian. And my friend who knew the Lord said he was convinced Trump was a Christian. But Trump's not a theologian. And so there are going to be things he doesn't understand, as is the case in a lot of areas.

In fact, I was talking to a friend of mine today on the phone about that. How many pastors don't believe God's word in a lot of areas? Like, God grants we have faith, not the opportunity to have faith, but he grants us faith. and that God hates people. But no, no, you can't do that.

And there's certain things in scripture that people don't want to swallow, they don't want to believe. And so when that happens, the Spirit of God does not move as, let's just say, as pristinely through those people who don't want to submit their hearts to the Word, but their Word to the hearts. And so that causes a spiritual vacuum and it's filled with, let's say, less than competent teachers like Paula White and Kenneth Copeland and others.

Okay. It's okay. All right. Yeah. And then we'll pick this up again sometime this week, Mart William.

But yeah, God bless you, Matt. Thank you. Alright, brother, anytime you want to come out here, remember, you're welcome. All right?

Okay, bye. That's Germaine, he's always got good stuff. All right, now let's get to Oscar from New York. Oscar, welcome. You're on the air.

Yes, sir. Thank you. My I'm I'm a I'm question here. is faith in results of regeneration Yes. Yeah.

But let me explain something. We had a brick coming up here, so we'll have to do it again. There's orders of priority, and there's two kinds that we need to talk about here. one is logical priority and one is temporal priority.

So temporal priority is the normal Universal normal position of most Christians in America, and it's false. The temporal priority is After the break, I'll tell you. All right, brother, hold on. Hey folks, we write back Capitol's messages. If you want to give me a call, it is really easy.

Just tell 877-207-2276. Be right back. Please take it. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, welcome back to the show. Let's get back on with Oscar from New York. Oscar, are you still there? Yes, sir. Oh, yes, I'm still here.

Okay, so let me explain what's the difference between logical priority and temporal priority in the issue of faith and regeneration. Because we've got to understand something. When the Bible tells us that the unbeliever is a slave of sin, a hater of God, doesn't seek for God, can do no good, cannot receive spiritual things, is by nature a child of wrath, he's not capable of simply believing in God. God has to grant that he have faith. Philippians 1.29 says that, and that faith is in Christ.

John 6:29. He causes us to be born again, 1 Peter 1.3. We're born again not of our own will, John 1.13.

So these are all the things that the scripture teaches. In fact, Jesus says in John 6, 65, you cannot come to me unless the Father grants it to you. This is what the Bible teaches. Most people don't want to hear these things, but that's what it teaches.

Okay?

Now.

So how does it work practically logistically? Let's just say that someone, as most churches teach today, that someone believes, and then because of their belief, they become regenerate. They become pornican.

Well, let's just hypothetically put this to the test. And let's just say, well, Kitty, believe first, which is against Scripture, because God has to grant that you believe. But they say, often when I say they believe out of their own free will, out of their own sinful nature, that's not biblical, but that's another thing. They believe, and then let's just pick a number of five seconds. I'm not saying it's accurate, just an illustration.

They believe, and five seconds later, God makes them born again.

Well, then that would technically mean that a person is a believer for five seconds before he's born again, before he's regenerate.

So we would technically have a believer who's not regenerate for a period of time. That logistically is very a very serious problem.

Well, let's reverse it. Let's say that regeneration precedes faith by, let's say, a five seconds. Then you have a regenerate person who for a period of time is not a believer.

Well, that's logistically problematic as well.

So, what are we going to do? What are we going to say?

Well there's another option that's called logical priority.

Now I illustrate this by using a light bulb. When you flip a switch and electricity goes into the light bulb. the electricity and the light are simultaneous. They occur at the same time. The light electricity is in the light bulb, and light is also there at the same time.

That's why it's there.

However, electricity is the cause of the light. The light is not the cause of the electricity.

So we would say, in the context of the electricity being prior. To the light. logically It's the cause of the light even though they're simultaneous, so electricity is logically prior, not temporally prior. What we're saying is the electricity and the light are there at the same time, but the electricity causes the light. Likewise, the idea of regeneration preceding faith is a logical procession.

but they're simultaneous in their act.

So God causes us to be born again, but also grants that we have faith.

So, how I would see it is that regeneration logically precedes faith. And we actually do the believing, even though God grants it to us, Philippians 1:29. We do the believing, we receive John 1:12.

So He grants this to us because we have to come to Christ by the granting of the Father. John 6:65.

So, logistically. They're simultaneous. Regeneration and faith are simultaneous. God regenerates us, and He grants that we believe, and we're actually able to believe. At that moment, and so we truly do.

Okay?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, thank you very much. It makes sense. Yeah, thank you again. Bye-bye. All right.

You're welcome. God bless. All right. So that's uh That's theology. You see, if I was preaching a sermon, and in front of a congregation preaching a sermon.

And that was a necessary part of the sermon. I would explain it. I believe in equipping the Christians with theology, with a little bit of Christian philosophy, which is really good stuff. It's right there in Scripture, with biblical doctrines and weaving it all together. This is the reason why you behave and do the things you do.

These are the foundational reasons. Most pastors, I understand, don't do that kind of stuff. In fact, when I go to churches, I get. I get sermons that are just In my opinion, not very deep. Yeah.

Oh, I get irked. Let's get to Dave by Dave from California. Dave, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt.

So I was over with my uncle-in-law over the weekend. Me and him very much disagree on a few things, but Smargerman and I He commented that Jeremiah 49, 35 through 39, where it talks about God breaking. The bow of Ilam was fulfilled in the current conflict with Iran. I was curious your consent on that. Um Oh, that's interesting.

Elam.

So the issue is: what is Elam?

Now, I don't know. That's a good question, actually. I don't want to say no right away, I want to look at it. and see what it says. Um So I'm looking at some notes.

Yeah. And uh Okay.

So thus says the LORD Prophecy against Elohim, that which the Lord.

So, the issue here is: was it fulfilled at some particular time, which I don't know off the top of my head?

So let's look, let's see, 49. Come on, get in there. You know, sometimes I type so fast I mess up. Yeah. And uh Okay, let's see.

Hello All right, hold on a sec here.

Okay. So he's going to oh, anyway, okay, let's go look.

So he says he's going to break the bow of. of Islam. break the bow concerning it the says the Lord break the bow Of Elam, the finest of their might. I'll bring Elam four winds upon them from the four winds from the four ends of the earth. I'll scatter them to the winds.

There will be no And there will be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

So I will shatter Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their lives, and I will bring calamity upon them, even by fierce anger, declares the Lord. I will send out the sword after them till I have consumed them. Um It's a It doesn't fit. Um I'm looking at it, and I want to be careful. I don't want to just say automatically a dozen, because I don't see it fitting, but I want to just always be reserved.

Because Yeah. Um It says he'll bring Elam upon them from the four winds, the four ends of heaven. and we'll scatter them all. That's not happened. Breaking the bow is an instrument of war.

It's just saying their might's going to be destroyed.

Well, you could. I could see why someone would want to infer that this is Iran because Elam is in that area. To bring calamity. But it would seem to me that if you were to do that, that what you're doing is then. Um is taking parts of it.

And so It's a sixth century Um proclamation against that Place in that time. And I'm looking ahead here for any fulfillment because there's prophecies against Bal King.

So uh And so, it's something because I'm not into this prophecy thing like that very much. I'm into apologetics at a different level. And so, what I would ask and think is to look in the scripture to see if there's any. Other Area where a fulfillment occurred. And during the break, let me look at a commentary or two and we'll continue after the break.

Okay, so hold on. You've got me interested in this, hold on.

Okay. Oh, sorry about that, folks. We'll be right back. Please stay tuned, right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Alrighty, welcome back to the show.

So I did some research during the break on that issue. And it looks like, here's my notes. It looks like uh in 550 I'm gonna get back get him going here. There we go, get him back on the air. There we go.

In five fifty BC under Cyrus the prophecy was fulfilled. And so it cannot be reapplied to a new situation without a New Testament biblical warrant for it. That's one thing. The other thing is Elam was only part of Iran, not all of Iran. It's a small region.

And uh So, it seems to have already been fulfilled, and it was, and therefore, I would not apply it to the present-day Iran issue.

Okay. Okay. That's what I thought. I just thought I'd double check with somebody a little more versed than myself. All right.

Yeah. Thank you. All right. Well, God bless. Okay.

Alright, you too. All right. Now Next long is waiting is Danny from Virginia. Danny, welcome. You're on the air.

Mm-hmm. How you doing, Matt? Doing all right, hanging in there. Good, good. Uh I had a question.

I I wanted to hear you explain on it. Uh Jesus said it in in Matthew that he begins. Uh three days and three nights. in the earth just like Jonah was three days and three nights. But, you know.

Jesus also says, you know, And a lot of places said that they'll rise again the third day. I'd just like to hear your Yeah, three days and three nights.

So let's work backwards. He rose on Sunday.

So that's one night. Yeah. Technically. we could say that because it was during the morning, in the the sunrise, we could say that is one day and one night, because that's a legitimate way of considering it con uh in the mind of the ancient Jew. That a part of a day was considered part of that day.

So let's just grant that, that Sunday is day one, Sunday morning. That would mean Saturday was day two, and Friday, then you could lean towards the idea of it being a day three. But if we were to map this out and say uh three days and nights. Then and the Jewish calendar It begins at sundown.

So This is what I lean towards Thursday as when he was crucified.

So Thursday day, let's see if I remember this correctly. Thursday day. And then Thursday evening, that's day one. and then Friday day, Friday evening is day two, Saturday and Saturday evening is day three. which moves over into Sunday.

But it works. But you kind of kind of blend calendar ideas. if we were to do Friday, part of Friday, it was on Friday at say three o'clock, and then Friday night, that would be a day and a night on Friday, and then Saturday would be a day and a night. And then if we were to consider on Sunday as p that the calendar switched it you can make it work there too. It just depends on how you kind of emphasize it.

And uh but I lean towards Thursday for a more uh an easier um an easier time. But good Friday, you know, it it works. It you know, depending how you do it, okay? Yes, yes. The way the way I kind of looked at it was, uh, Dead.

The only two when Jesus said that. We know that he was there. When Jonah was swallowed by the great fish. And he knew um he counted part of a day. Uh, it's Friday evening.

Part of the day, Monday, yeah. I mean Sunday, yes, Sunday. and the Sabbath as as it was. Yeah. The only two people that really knew, and even Jonah, there's no way he could know exactly that he was three days and three nights from the belly of the fish.

Yeah, he knows because it was inspired for him to know, and it was written that he knew. But go ahead. Yeah. And so I lean to the thing, you know, that he rose again the third day. Carl Shewards.

crucified the day before. the the Passover and Rosie The day after the Passover. I say, start of the day is August. Yeah. So The thing is that there doesn't seem to be any early church attestation to the idea of Thursday.

It seems to be all on Friday. Yeah. Does that mean it's correct? Does it mean it's correct? But it does carry some weight.

Not that we want to use church history as a defining thing, scripture is always the defining thing.

So that's the weakness of the position I lean towards. I'm 60% on a Thursday day, but I could go to Friday. Yeah, it's not a big deal. And Friday's Divine too. Yeah.

Yeah, just the three days is is what, you know, Paul said it rose again the third day and you know, I I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that, and I appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah, and there's good arguments on both sides, and there's weaknesses for both sides. There's uh the weakness on on the Thursday day, resur uh crucifixion, is it doesn't have any real attestation outside of the scriptures if we apply that logic that I was I was mentioning. Friday does have that attestation, but it has weaknesses also uh because of the Yeah, because what you said, okay.

So three days and three nights. to Jewish idiom.

So You know It might have been, you know, Friday.

Okay. But Good Fridays there for a reason.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Sounds good.

All right. Thank you, sir.

Okay, God bless.

Okay. All right. Hey, if you want to give me a call, it is really easy. 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you getting a call.

And um You know, now I'm thinking about going through that stuff again. I might, I might just kind of lean towards the Friday one again because I go back and forth with that one because there's just strengths and weaknesses for Thursday and Friday. There just are. And it just depends. You know, it just depends.

Anyway, let's get to Billy from Texas. Billy, welcome. You're on the air. Oh, Matt. Hello?

What do you got? Yeah, here you're fine. What do you got? Yeah, I hear women preaching and teaching on the radio, and I wonder what your opinion is as far as Yeah. Uh there it sounds the same as as pastors teaching But if they're on the radio Is that kind of the same thing?

Or because they don't know who they're teaching to. Right.

Now, it says in the church context: a woman is not to be a teacher of men, and she cannot be an elder or a pastor. That's what the Bible says.

Okay, and once again. Over 20 years of radio, I'll say, I'll fly out to your church and debate the topic: Does the Bible support women, pastors, and elders? I've offered this hundreds of times over the years. No one's ever taken me up on it. No one's going to, because they don't want to debate that thing, because they know exactly where I'll go in scripture to support my position.

And they'll be on the defensive very quickly. I've listened to you enough. I understand. Yeah. Alright, so the issue of authority, okay, the authenten.

and they are not to be in an authoritative spiritual position over men. Because Adam was first created. If a woman gets on the air on the radio, And talks about um real estate. No problem. Finances, no problem.

And she, let's say, she's a missionary. And she gets on the radio talking about her missionary experiences with, let's just say she's married, has a husband, and she's the one doing the interview. I don't have any problem with that.

Now, what happens if she says, well, this is what the Bible says in this verse, in the context of, let's say, missionary work, whatever it is, and she's executing scripture.

Well, A woman can certainly exegete scripture. She can certainly understand scripture, and sometimes they can do a better job than men. And just because they're men doesn't mean they're better automatically.

So the question here is: Are they exercising a spiritual authority? And since radio is not in a church, It in that sense. It's just public. It doesn't fit, in my opinion, that narrow band, no pun intended on radio. of authentain regarding church authority.

Do you So I think it's a little bit more. It's yeah, exercise teach or exercise authority. And this is the context because that's what he says in 1 Timothy 2, 12 and 13. And he says in the next chapter, in 1 Timothy 2, 3, 15, he says he's giving instruction on how to behave in the church, the household of God.

Now, here's a quick story. Back in seminary days when I went to seminary, I graduated in 91. and I went to Westminster Theological Seminary in Escodido, California. And it's a very, very staunch, very theologically precise Reformed seminary, at least it was back then. And they had a week-long session where they invited the populace, come into all the classes.

It was great. And they flew a woman in to teach on what women can do in the churches. And I thought this was a great idea. I've told this story many times before. I was the only guy in the class.

Most of the men most. All the men except for me didn't want to be in the class apparently. I'm the only man in the class, standing room only. Women want to know what they can do in the church, and they need to know, and they should be used in the church. But they can't be pastors and elders, they cannot.

The Bible says that.

So It's okay, and even that church, I mean, in that seminary context, she was teaching and she could teach men, and I was in there, I had no problem with it whatsoever. Hey, you want to hold? We've got a break. If you want, stay on. If you don't, just drop off.

But we'll be right back after these messages, folks. Please stay tuned. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, you can. We have wide open lines. Eight seven seven 2072276.

I'm working on an article literally typing away during the break here. Sit down.

So I forgot what the conversation was. I had recently. yesterday, something someplace. I don't know what it was. But a question was asked And I've wondered about this before.

And so I'll deal with it now a little bit. Why are so many Protestant youth Um Abandoning Protestantism And moving over to Rome and Constantinople. Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Why are they jumping the river? Uh why are they jumping to the other side?

Well, I've been working on an article today. It's one of those articles that I find intriguing.

Now I have some stories. I've talked to to people who've done that. And of course, whenever you have sorries, you know, they're limited, they're not a scientific study. It's just uh there we go, it's just It's just um you know, experience. And so I'm not going to say my experiences in interviewing people and why did you leave Protestantism.

Are all true or represent actuality in every degree? I can't do that. But I can only say, well, what I've been told is And um I'm converting this into an article. And I've got three main categories here, and a lot more to do. I'm going to go over a little bit of something here.

So Now this is just my first draft. And What I normally do when I write an article is, I just dump it out first, just get it out. And then let it sit and then go through and polish, rearrange. Oh, that's good, add to that. Oh, that's no good, take that away.

Whatever it is. And um Sometimes after I've written an article, I'll ask some of the people on staff: hey, what do you think of this? Just give me some feedback. And they will, and Lightside is really good constructive criticism or suggestions, or whatever it might be. Because when it's talking about things like this that are subjective to some degree Then it becomes difficult to be absolute.

I can do that with scripture a lot of times, but not here.

So anyway, my uh my experiences have been that uh That I've experienced in churches, and I've heard others say similar things, is shallow. A Protestant preaching. And uh So, what I've written here is: too many pastors lack command of serious theology, and even those who possess it often do not know how to translate it into preaching. Instead, they offer stories and allusions to helpful principles. The result is a weekly diet of a weekly, as in, you know, seven days a week.

Diet of moralistic messages, motivational stories, and spiritually shallow sermons. This can leave the listener. slowly starving to death spiritually and wanting more. And I'm going to expand on that, okay? And what might they want?

Wanting more, right?

Well, if that's the case... They're going to look to something that has deeper meaning.

Well, most Protestant youth don't know the Bible, don't know theology. They don't know. That the Trinity is one God in three distinct, simultaneous, co-eternal persons, that there's two natures in Christ, hypostatic union, that the attributes of both natures are ascribed to the single person, the communicatio idiomatum, imputation, justification, sanctification, propitiation. Most people just don't know these things. And I know when I'm saying all these big words, you're probably all going, what?

And that's the problem. Because a hundred years ago People knew this in churches. They understood this stuff, and people had discussions on these levels. I've read material. My wife, my late wife, she read material from the late 1800s and mid-80 to late 1800s on stuff that people were discussing, and it was very deep.

And this was the average Joe. But I think in America personally, is my opinion. That Protestant preaching is just basically scraping the popular ground, it's just shallow. I remember, you know, I've been to so many churches where. Uh I go in and I can't help but get the feeling that sometimes the pastors don't want to offend the congregation.

They don't want to speak truth and strength and the power of God's Word. I get that. I get that sometimes. I think there's a mistake that a lot of pastors make, and I was guilty of this too, of well, if I'm if the people aren't coming to hear me, I'm not doing well, I'm not doing what's right. That is a natural tendency.

And we need to not have that. And I even have that to this day. How many views on my videos? How many articles of mine are read? How many people listening on the radio?

Whatever. These are natural things that we, just as people, Can fall into, we want a validation, and I think there's a validation issue. possibly with a lot of pastors and they're not preaching uh stuff. That they need to. Shallow preaching.

Well, this can cause a spiritual atrophy, slowly starving to death, and they want more.

Well, here's another one. The idea of filling the seats. instead of the hearts and minds. Yeah. And it's related to the first one: shallow preaching.

I remember, I still remember this. I was doing pulpit supply in Southern California, and I did it for a few years. Where I would just be asked to preach at a church in SoCal. And SoCal had about 22 million people in it. That's Southern California.

And you could be in any direction, you know, 10, 15, 20,000 churches. I mean, that kind of thing. It's just humongous.

So I would be asked to drive 100 miles, go preach at this church, or 5 miles, go preach in that church.

Sometimes, and one day I even preached in three different churches in one day. And it's not a big deal, but I'm just saying pulpit supply.

So I got the experience, and I'm so thankful for that. I got to preach in different churches, and I remember I'd go into the churches and meet with the elders right away if I hadn't ever preached there before. And I would say, what are the issues you don't want me to broach? that are sensitive Here Anything happened recently? Like, maybe there's a church split.

Maybe there's been a major battle they're going through, and I didn't want to needlessly step on toes. That was the only thing that I would ever ask. because I didn't need to accidentally say something that would cause problems. That's different than this is what the Bible says about election predestination. You need to believe it.

That's different.

So I remember this one day. I was preaching and it was at an ABC church. American born Chinese. And there was this denomination, and they had some ABCs, they all spoke English, and some of them spoke Chinese too, and they called the seminary up. and they said we are looking for somebody who will preach the truth without compromise.

Who can come up to Orange County, I live in San Diego, let come up to Orange County's like a hundred mile drive. and uh and and preach. And they said Matt Slick.

Okay. So I got to know these guys, and they were great folks. They even asked me to be their pastor. That's another story, another time. didn't work out because of the liberalness of the denomination they were under, but like I said, another story.

And so I remember the place. I remember the s the the time When I think maybe it had been a Korean church because I did Koreans also. Anyway, our. It was a Korean church. I remember that now.

Because I went from the Koreans knew the Chinese, and they asked me to. Hey, I just remember all this stuff. It's been a long time.

So I'm rambling.

So I remember I was in this church, and I decided that during this particular sermon, I needed to preach theology. It was necessary in there because I've known this stuff. I've been doing apologetics for years. And I introduced In the sermon, a theological point. for about a minute, a minute and a half.

As a foundational theological necessity that then clarified the what, where, why of the topic of the sermon. And then I I left that doctrinal nugget and went back into the flow of the sermon. To my utter surprise, when I got down from the pulpit after the church service was done, several people came up to me and said they loved that doctrinal nugget. They loved it. And I remember this conversation.

I said, you did, huh? And he said, I was a new preacher, still learning a lot of stuff. And um They said, yeah, yeah, but people don't do that. We need that, we want that. And it really hit me.

It really had a profound effect on me. and it set me free. To be able to preach according to the conviction of my own heart before God and before people, and weaving into the sermons the theological depth of God's Word, where they could anchor the truths that they were being taught.

So it was no longer moralistic ideology. but anchored in the blood, redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, out of the doctrine of the Trinity, out of the doctrine of justification, out of the doctrine of the coming resurrection, the golden chain of redemption. The very fact of God's sovereignty and his election, his work, whatever was necessary in any particular sermon, I started doing that more and more. And more and more people were saying thank you. And so, when I preach to this day, which I haven't preached in a year or two, I miss it.

I haven't preached in a while. Anyway, my wife's health was on the on the not doing well. Anyway, that that happens. I'm going to start asking God to find a place where I can preach occasionally. Just to I'd love to preach.

Anyway.

So hear more rambling from that.

So When I started doing this, I realized that people were really in need of it because they had been starving. And they told me. No one teaches like this. We're starving for this. No one tells us.

I never forgot that.

So, here on the radio, if you've been listening to me for a while, you know I will get in depth with stuff. And I'll talk about philosophy.

Now, I'm not saying philosophy is good, but philosophy is based on logic, and logic is the necessary precondition for intelligibility, and all the natural laws of logic that we possess in our minds are because they are emanations or reflections of the mind of the universal being, the Trinitarian God. And only the Trinity is the necessary preconditions for intelligibility. I can get into all this kind of stuff. And so, if we're going to have logic, it's because it exists, because a God exists. Good Christian philosophical work is based on the laws of logic.

And which is guided by scripture. That's valid. Christian philosophy.

So we can have this.

So I was starting to present this more and more to people. And I do this on the radio. And I know that sometimes people tell me it's too deep.

Sorry, sometimes it is. And sometimes it's not deep enough. And that happens too. But what I'm trying to do is spread the word and the truth of God's word and stretch your minds and hearts. I think people need to hear that.

I do. And so, one of the reasons I think that a lot of youth are moving over to the heretical churches of. of Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism is because to some degree I suspect the Protestant Pastors aren't teaching theologically deep sermons. that anchor in the absolute truth of God's Word. Instead, stories, illustrations, moral lessons the vacuous emptiness.

of human philosophy. used to soften the truth of God's word. That's what I think is a tragedy in modern Protestantism.

Now, am I right? I don't know. But this is some of the stuff I've been thinking about. And I got other things in this article I'm working on. And the next topic, which you don't have time to get into, we've got 30 seconds on the show.

Is the problem with denominational divisions? What's the psychological effect that can have on somebody? To look out at the landscape of Protestantism. and see it dotted. By thousands of churches claiming to have the truth.

And yet they contradict each other. in a lot of areas. What does that do? to the mind of a person seeking truth. It turns it into Are they really true or not?

You see, there's so many factors. I'll continue to work on that and on that article. But we're out of time. The music's going to start. May the Lord bless you by His grace.

Lord willing, be back on the air tomorrow, Thursday, and by His grace, we'll talk to you then. Have a great evening, everyone. God bless you. Another program powered by the Truth Network.